Green Day Announces Release Of Long-Awaited ‘American Idiot’ Documentary, ‘Heart Like A Hand Grenade’
Green Day is one of those rare bands that has changed the music landscape not once, but twice. While their major-label debut Dookie influenced a whole generation of music lovers and punks back in 1994, the trio did it again ten years later with American Idiot. The album came out in September 2004, reviving Green Day’s popularity and attracting a new wave of fans worldwide. American Idiot was huge – it launched five hit singles, won the band numerous Grammys and VMAs, led to giant world tours, and eventually turned into a Broadway musical.
Early on, a documentary called Heart Like A Hand Grenade was supposed to come out in the midst of all the American Idiot hype. Director John Roecker shot hundreds of hours of footage while Green Day recorded the album in the studio, and this was supposed to come out as a documentary not long after American Idiot had made its impact. Finally, in 2009, five hundred lucky fans got to attend a private screening of the documentary in Hollywood. Green Day Authority reviewed the screening at the time, but no subsequent screenings ever followed.
Finally, more than a decade after American Idiot first came out, the Heart Like A Hand Grenade has an official release date! On October 15th, the documentary will hit theaters for all to see.
As Green Day’s official site stated, “More than 10 years after the release of American Idiot, 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Green Day present Heart Like A Hand Grenade. This time capsule rock doc takes us inside the songwriting and recording process of their Grammy Award winning punk rock opera.”
There is still no information on which theaters will have the documentary or how long it will be showing; more details should be announced soon. There is also no confirmation on when a DVD/digital release of Heart Like A Hand Grenade can be expected. Hopefully that will also be announced soon. At least fans will finally get to see the documentary – better late than never!
Green Day has been on a documentary kick in the last few years. They released ¡Cuatro! about the making of their 2012 trilogy of albums; there is also Broadway Idiot, about the how the American Idiot musical developed. Green Day has also been working on a pre-Dookie documentary, as well as executive producing East Bay: By The Punx, For The Punx, About The Punx, which chronicles the East Bay punk scene from which Green Day and many other punk and alternative bands arose.
Since the 2012 trilogy and Billie Joe’s trip to rehab, the band has been quiet about Green Day. Instead, they’ve been doing their separate things. Billie released a covers album with Norah Jones, acted in the film Like Sunday, Like Rain, wrote songs for the musical These Paper Bullets, and opened a guitar store. Mike was working on producing a film called Crickets, then put his energy into helping his wife beat breast cancer. Tré Cool recently got married, and Jason White battled his own case of cancer.
Not to mention, Green Day was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this April. The band members have certainly been busy, and though no new Green Day music has been announced yet, they will likely get back into the studio in the coming months. Hopefully 2016 will be the year of new Green Day songs.
For now, we can get ready for Heart Like A Hand Grenade, in theaters on October 15th. Relive the start of the American Idiot era below with the first single and title track below, and keep checking back here for all the latest Green Day news.
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